Showtime
by blackmustache
Summary: Blaine takes the next step in Kurt's plan to bring him domination of the music world. Follows 'Just Because'.


**Title:** Showtime  
><strong>Author: <strong>Rach  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG  
><strong>Pairings:<strong> Kurt/Blaine  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> Nothing, really.  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 2640  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Blaine takes the next step in Kurt's plan to bring him domination of the music world.  
><strong>Author's Note:<strong>So, yeah. A 'verse happened! Follows Just Because and probably won't make a lot of sense alone. I find titling fics hard enough, let alone titling a series/verse so I will probably name this something lame like "Rockstar 'Verse" in my head until eventually I just give in and call it that in public too. So I probably may as well just give in and call it that right from the start.

"Hey," a voice rang out across the office. "Blaine-From-Sales-And-Services!"

"What is it, Kelly-From-Leisure-And-Entertainment?" Blaine called back, looking up from his computer screen.

"Have you seen the- oof." She stopped, staring at Tom-From-Leisure-And-Entertainment, who had just elbowed her in the side and was now wiggling his eyebrows like a crazy person. "Oh. I mean, yeah. Have you seen the weather? Way hotter than it was meant to be this week." She grabbed her headset and pushed a button on her phone. "Hi, this is the Times-Gazette, you've reached Kelly from Sales and Services!"

Blaine raised an eyebrow at Kelly and Tom; he was pretty sure Kelly's phone hadn't actually rung. "I worry about the two of you."

–

Blaine had been lying in bed, wondering how late he could push it before Kurt would consider it 'sinful' that he'd wasted his entire day off. Even though Kurt wasn't here to see it, he would somehow just _know_what time Blaine had got up. His inner debate was interrupted by an incessant knocking at the apartment's front door.

"I'm coming!" Blaine shouted, pulling on a tee shirt and heading for the door. He pulled it open, and saw a young girl grinning at him.

"Hi!" She handed Blaine a newspaper and then continued to stare at him.

"Hi, Lily," Blaine smiled back at her. "Is today payment day?" He glanced behind the door at the little table that sat there. "Kurt hasn't left any money..."

Lily shook her head. "No, it's not today." She still made no effort to move.

"Then... what can I do for you?" Blaine might have been lying in bed awake for a while, but he wasn't awake enough for cryptic messages delivered by children.

"Aren't you going to read it?" She nodded towards the paper.

"Now?"

She grinned again. "Yes." She leant forward in what she clearly thought was a conspiratorial manner and whispered at Blaine. "Page eleven."

Blaine frowned, and unfolded the paper, turning the pages quickly until he reached page eleven. His jaw dropped as his eyes landed on a half page advert featuring a picture of himself on stage with his guitar that had clearly been taken at one of the open mic nights.

"Will you sign one for me?" Lily piped up; Blaine had almost forgotten she was there.

"What?"

She handed over a pen and another copy of the paper, already open at the page. Stunned, Blaine took it from her and scribbled his name, and she clapped her hands excitedly. "Thanks Blaine! Bye Blaine!" She turned and rummaged in her bag, pulling out more copies of the paper and shoving them through letterboxes of the other apartments as she skipped away.

Absently closing the door, Blaine continued to stare.

_Blaine Anderson LIVE!  
>One night only!<br>Tickets: $8_

This was an advert for his show on Saturday. Tomorrow. The show that he'd told Kurt they ought to keep quiet, as it was the first time he _was_the show instead of just being part of the show, and yeah, he was nervous. He picked up his phone and dialled Kurt at the store, staring at the newspaper the entire time.

"Kurt spea-"

"What the hell, Kurt!"

There was a pause. "You've seen it, then."

"Why did you think that it would be a good idea to-"

"Blaine, I-"

"-put a freaking AD in the paper even though you know I-"

"Blaine, _please_just-"

"-'m nervous enough as it is!"

"Are you done?"

Blaine pouted. "Yes."

Kurt laughed quietly down the phone. "Good. Now, what's really wrong?"

Blaine leant against the wall and sighed, his voice quiet. Kurt was too damn good at knowing when something was wrong. "I don't want you to keep spending money on making this happen for me. It might not work out."

"Blaine, that's kind of the point. I don't care. It's not an infinite supply of money, I saved up for this, I know how much there is and how much things cost and an advertising campaign-"

"One advert doesn't constitute a campaign, Kurt."

Kurt ignored the interruption. "-is key to getting your name and your face out there. Don't _worry_so much. Besides, Kelly gave me a great deal! Nowhere near what I should have paid for that amount of space."

"I knew Kelly was being really weird yesterday."

Kurt let out a sigh. "Blaine. I promise you, this is all money well spent. Because even if all of this comes to nothing, I want you to have had an amazing few months, and making sure that bar is _packed_tomorrow night is one of the things I can help with. Okay?"

"What if nobody comes and your ad was a waste of money?"

"_Blaine!_ People will come. And if for some insane reason you're right and people _don't_, we'll go home afterwards and have sex until you forget about it."

"Are you mocking me?"

"Maybe a little. But only because I know there will be people there." Blaine rolled his eyes as Kurt spoke, but smiled, and was glad Kurt wasn't there to see that he'd won. "Feel better now?"

"A little."

"Okay, good, because I've had a customer standing here the entire time I've been talking to you and I think if her eyes open any wider they might get stuck like that. Love you!"

There was a click, and then the dial tone purred in Blaine's ear.

–

Kurt scanned the bar, pleased. It was relatively busy – it was Saturday night, and people didn't seem to mind paying a few bucks extra to get in since there was going to be live music. As he weaved through the crowd he recognised people here and there, familiar faces from the open mic nights Blaine performed at, a few people he knew Blaine worked with, and a few of their friends. He stopped by a table to exchange hugs and hellos with Quinn and Rachel, and he knew that Mercedes and Tina were on their way too.

It had been less than six months since they'd discussed Blaine trying to pursue music as a career again, and a couple of months after that Blaine had headed in for the recording studio session that Kurt had bought for him. Armed with the six songs they'd decided between them were both Blaine's strongest and had the best ability to show off what Blaine was capable of, Blaine had talked to the people who worked there and got to work recording his songs. Kurt had sat behind the glass giving encouraging smiles and thumbs up signals, as well as occasionally sneaking into the studio for a kiss if he suspected Blaine's enthusiasm was dropping when he was asked to redo part of a song for the sixth time in a row.

Blaine had continued playing at the open mic nights until finally he'd talked to the bar's owner about the possibility of playing a show of his own. And now here they were, Blaine preparing backstage and Kurt unpacking a box of copies of Blaine's first CD onto a small table in an alcove beside the stage.

He looked at the CD with a smile. He'd developed a passion for photography in college, and Blaine was his favourite subject. He'd been thrilled when Blaine had asked him to take photos that they could use for the cover art, and had spent days forcing Blaine into various poses in slightly strange locations. In the end, they'd agreed that a close up shot of Blaine's face that Kurt had taken on the first day was the best; he was rolling his eyes at the time, unaware Kurt was about to start shooting, with a broad grin on his face. It was totally goofy, absolutely gorgeous and completely Blaine.

Kurt's smile widened as Blaine appeared beside him, pressing Kurt into the wall of the alcove to kiss him. As they pulled away, Kurt laughed at him, fiddling with Blaine's hair affectionately. "Excited?"

Blaine's eyes were shining with excitement as he nodded. "Incredibly nervous, but yeah. _So_excited."

He leaned in to kiss Kurt again and Kurt grinned, grabbing one of the CDs from the table and holding it up to cover the side of Blaine's face as they kissed. They were interrupted by a couple of giggles.

"Kurt, you realise that looks like you're making out with Blaine's ear, right?" Tina grinned as Kurt sheepishly lowered the CD, and she leant over the table to hug Blaine. Mercedes was right behind her but instead of leaning _over_the table, she pulled Kurt out from behind it.

"I'm having a _real_hello, whether you like it or not," she teased as she wrapped Kurt in a bone crushing hug.

Kurt laughed and turned to Tina, who hugged him with a smile and then looked back at Blaine. She pulled a folded piece of newsprint from her purse, along with a pen. Blaine groaned and buried his face in his hands. Kurt snorted, reaching over and taking the paper and pen from her and putting them out of Blaine's line of sight. "No freebies," he teased. "You have to buy a CD if you want an autograph."

Mercedes cackled. "Ooh, Kurt's turned into a pushy stage mom!" As Kurt opened his mouth to protest, Mercedes pushed her way past him, heading behind the table and then turning back to Kurt. "You're going to go out there where you can see your man, and watch the show." She gestured to the pile of CDs in front of her. "I've got things covered here."

Before Kurt could decide whether or not he approved of this idea, Tina took his hand. "Come on. Sit with us, we saved you a seat."

Kurt relented, but before he let Tina drag him away, he turned back to Blaine with a smile, settling his arms over Blaine's shoulders. "You're going to rock this."

Blaine nodded, swallowing, his nerves increasing as showtime approached. "I should probably go back through there," he nodded to the little room behind the stage where his guitar was waiting. "I love you."

Kurt's smile widened. "I love you too."

Before either of them could say anything else – or cry – Tina dragged Kurt away, yelling "be awesome, Blaine!" and pushing him roughly into a seat between Quinn and Rachel. The table was in a good location, he realised, central and towards the back, meaning that Blaine could see him easily without risking it looking as though the entire show was Kurt being serenaded. Because as much as Kurt would love that, it would be kind of beside the point, and they could have done that at home. And often did.

As Blaine appeared on stage, Kurt straightened up, one hand splayed flat on the table while the other clasped Rachel's tightly underneath it. He noticed Blaine scan the room for him and smile, taking a deep breath and leaning forward into the microphone.

"Hi everybody," he started, and Kurt wished everybody would stop chatting. "I'm Blaine Anderson, and I'm going to sing a few songs for you guys."

Slowly the chatting faded and a spotlight shone on Blaine, who started his set with Teenage Dream. Kurt knew the set-list backwards and forwards; they'd debated the pros and cons of hundreds of songs every night for a week, Kurt lying on the couch with his legs across Blaine's lap while they ate takeout (Kurt's "all meals must be eaten at the table" rule was becoming more and more lax) and talked. Eventually they'd agreed Blaine should start with a couple of songs people knew, and then sing some of his own, with the odd cover throughout to keep people interested.

Kurt also knew that starting with a song like that, one he'd performed plenty of times before, would help calm Blaine's nerves, and he was right. As he reached the chorus Blaine found the confidence to sing to a table that wasn't Kurt's, and Kurt let himself relax back into the chair, still holding Rachel's hand under the table.

Quinn reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a camera, taking a few snaps as the show went on and Blaine really got into his stride. When he sang one of the songs from his CD and there were people in the audience singing along, he positively beamed and Quinn knew that Kurt might not have wanted to waste the show taking pictures but they were both going to want some to look back at.

The entire thing was over far too quickly, and as Blaine reached the end of his set Kurt couldn't help untangling his fingers from Rachel's and making his way to the side of the stage, ready for Blaine to finish. Blaine ducked off stage with a wave, and Kurt was about to head backstage and find him when Blaine reappeared, still grinning. He'd given the applause time to die down a little, but came back while people were still paying attention to the stage.

He knew that planning for an encore was risky but he'd hoped they would enjoy the show enough that it wouldn't look too cocky if he came back out.

"I, uh, I'd like to play one more song for you guys tonight," he was talking a little quieter into the microphone now, trying to judge how many of them wanted him to play again and how many were just wondering how soon he'd leave for good so that they could pee. Beside the stage Kurt was staring at Blaine, wondering what was coming next. They hadn't discussed an encore, and he noticed that Blaine hadn't brought his guitar back out with him. As the crowd settled again, Blaine started to sing completely unaccompanied, Kurt couldn't help but smile.

_You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs  
>But I look around me and I see it isn't so<em>

Blaine was looking down at Kurt now, his eyes wide and bright and a smile so big Kurt didn't think it could physically get any bigger. Kurt watched, blushing a little and thankful it was so dark that nobody would notice. Blaine didn't take his eyes off Kurt until the end of the song when he looked back around the room and grinned again. "Thank you for indulging me, I've had an awesome time."

Instead of heading off the stage the way he came, he jumped straight off it and into Kurt's arms, pulling him in for a kiss. As they broke apart Kurt smiled, resting his head against Blaine's forehead and looping his arms loosely around his waist, pulling him closer. "Your heart is beating really fast," he murmured.

"Yeah. And you're blushing," Blaine teased.

Suddenly they were surrounded by their friends, laughing and clapping. Rachel pulled Kurt off Blaine so that she could hug him and Quinn shoved her camera in Kurt's face, cycling through a few of the photos she'd taken. "Tina got some video on her phone, too," she smiled, nudging Kurt's side with her elbow "Especially of that last one."

Kurt laughed softly and moved away from the group as they hugged and congratulated Blaine, appearing at Mercedes' side without her noticing he was approaching. "Hey!" She grinned. "I - _you_-" she corrected, "sold a bunch of these. Next time there'll be even more people singing along!"


End file.
